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Report, Chapter XIV, Recent educatioi 
al developments in Scotland. 1910, 




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ADVANCE SHEETS 



UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

CHAPTER FROM THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 

For 1910 



Chapter XIV 



Recent Educational Develop- 
ments in Scotland 



WASHINGTON 

OOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
IDIO 



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CHAPTER XIV. 
RECENT EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 

[By Principal A. P. Laurie, M. A., D. Sc] 



Scotland, 30,405 square miles; population (estimated, 1908), 4,826,587. 



Topical Outline. 



The act of 1908. — Nature of the act of 1908; medical inspection of school children; feeding and care of school 
children and neglected children. 

The statutory position. — Post-elementary education; supplementary courses; higher grade schools. 

Secondary education. — Leaving certificates; sample post-intermediate courses; Latin optional; continua- 
tion classes in counties; continuation classes in cities; number of students; compulsory attendance at 
continuation classes; day classes for apprentices. 

Bursaries. — The bursary system as it is; the bursary system as the department wishes it should be; cen- 
tral institutions; grants to central Institutions; relation of central Institutions to universities. 

Scottish universities. — University ordinances; autonomy for universities; new ordinance for arts degree; 
subjects and dci^artments of study; imperial grants to universities; universities and state control; 
Carnegie trust; training of the teacher. 



Summary of current educational statistics — Scotland.^ 

[The Information in this table relating to universities is taken from the Statesman's Yearbook, 1910, and 
from current calendars of the institutions. The remaining statistics have been compiled from the reports 
of the education department.] 



Institution. 



Date 

of 
report. 



Registered 
students 
or pupils. 



Professors 

or 
teachers. 



Universities and colleges: 

St. Andrews University (3 colleges) 

Aberdeen University 

Glasgow University 

Glasgow Technical College 

Anderson Institution 

Edinburgh University 

Elementary day schools 

Training colleges and centers for elementary teachers. 



1909 
1909 
1909 



1909 
1909 
1908 
1908 



567 

949 

2,696 



86 
81 
151 



548 

3,322 

812, 346 

3,005 



124 

153 

20,064 



a TJds summary prepared in the Bureau of Education. 

So many changes are taking place at present over the whole field 
of Scotch education, from the elementary schooi to the university, 
that it is very difficult to deal with recent developments in the 
course of a brief article, and therefore some parts of the subject 
must remain without adequate treatment. 

521 



522 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

THE ACT OF 1908. 

It will perhaps be easiest to begin by taking the education (Scot- 
land) act of 1908 as the basis of a description of what is going on, 
although it will be necessary to deal with many matters which are 
not included within the covers of that act. 

Prior to the passing of the act Scotland had been waiting for an 
education act for many years, and bills had been brought in by 
more than one government, but had never been passed into law. 
This was largely due to the fact that there was great division of 
opinion in Scotland as to the best scheme of organization for dealing 
with elementary education. One party was in favor of keeping to 
the existing system, under which each parish or burgh has its school 
board for dealing with elementary education — a system which has 
resulted in the small country of Scotland, with its population of 
some four or five millions, possessing altogether 1,068 school boards. 
Although this system is doubtless a wasteful one, it is based upon 
certain traditions linked up with the old Scotch parish school and 
has certainly many strong advocates among those in high places. 
There were, again, those who wished to see the control of elementary 
as well as of secondary education put under education committees 
of the county councils. These county councils, which have at pres- 
ent to deal with many matters outside the sphere of education, such 
as roads and bridges, have been intrusted in England by the act 
passed by Mr. Balfour's government in 1902 with the control of 
elementary education, and there can be no doubt that, apart from 
the question of the religious and political quarrels, this act of 1902 
has proved a success and has done much to coordinate and develop 
elementary education in England. Again, there were those who 
wished to have larger areas than the present school-board areas, but 
who held the view that the education authority should be a body 
elected to deal with education only. 

We are accustomed in Scotland to fight to the death for our 
opinions, and consequently this division of opinion as to the best 
method of organizing the control of elementary education led to 
lukewarmness on the part of the various governments and to the 
dropping of the various bills which had been introduced. 

In addition there was, and is still, a strong feeling in Scotland in 
favor of some form of local council for dealing with educational 
matters. Under the present system there are several Scotch depart- 
ments with permanent officials dealing entirely with Scotch affairs, 
and of these the Scotch education department is only one. All 
these departments are represented in Parliament by the secretary 
for Scotland. The English system of government, by which each 
great state department is administered by a body of permanent 
officials under a temporary chief appointed by the party in power 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 523 

at the time, works well on the whole, as the public can always attack 
the administration of any department through its appointed chief; 
but m the case of Scotland, as there is a representative dealing %vith 
all the Scotch departments instead of one representative for each 
department, it is more difficult for public opinion, through the 
House of Commons, to be brought directly in touch with the perma- 
nent officials; and, further, as the Scotch education department itself 
is actually located in London, it is in reality an independent and 
powerful bureaucracy. Moreover, the Scotch members of Parlia- 
ment have never shown that capacity for united action in defense of 
Scotch interests which we are so familiar with in the case of the 
representatives of the sister nation of Ireland. They are usually 
men of ambition and great ability, and consequently if the member- 
ship of the British cabinets is examined it will be found that for 
many years Scotchmen have played a much larger part in governing 
the Empire than is actually warranted by the size of the population 
of Scotland. The best of them are therefore busily engaged in 
imperial affairs. For all these reasons there has been a strong party 
in Scotland for many years who are in favor of something of the 
nature of a council to deal with educational affairs in Scotland and 
who also urge that this council should sit in Scotland. At the same 
time the creation of such a council involves great constitutional 
difficulties, as its relation to the House of Commons, to the secretary 
for Scotland, and the permanent officials of the education department 
is difficult to decide. It is rather of the nature of a pious wish than 
of a well-thought-out scheme. 

Under its present chief, the Scotch education department has been 
administered with such ability and has shown such vitality that there 
is no immediate necessity of dealing with this question. In fact, it is 
so much of the nature of the Scottish character to split into small 
and fiercely fighting groups on every question involving a difference 
of opinion that a little despotic control by a minister removed 400 
miles from Scotland and safely ensconced in an office in Whitehall 
has no doubt been much to the advantage of Scottish education. 
But those of us who are connected with the educational matters and 
see how the beneficent control of the present chief of the Scotch 
education department is permeating through every branch of Scottish 
education, tremble to think what the consequences would be if some 
day we found sitting in the chair in Whitehall, at present so ably 
occupied, a man of the usual civil-servant type, bound in formality 
and incapable of ideas. 

NATURE OF THE ACT OF 1908. 

For these many reasons, then, the passage of a Scotch education 
act was delayed from year to year, and finally the act of 1908, while 
a most interesting document, has left severely alone the question of 



524 EDUCATION EBPOKT, 1910. 

the organization of the controlling body. The school boards are left 
where they were, with a considerably increased power, and in place 
of the technical and secondary education committees of the county 
councils, new secondary education committees have been created, 
consisting of representatives of the town councils, the county councils, 
and of the school boards; and the duty of providing continuation 
classes for children who have left school, which was in some cases 
formerly carried out by the education committees of the county 
councils, has been thrown upon the school boards. While, therefore, 
practically no changes of great importance have been made in the 
organization and control of Scotch education, the tendency of the 
act of 1908 has been to throw more responsibility on the school 
boards than they had to bear before, and it is therefore rather as 
dealing with the internal details of education that this act is of such 
great importance. We shall now proceed to touch upon one or two 
of the actual sections of the act. 

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

In the first place, some of the most important sections of the act are 
those dealing with the medical inspection of school children and with 
neglected school children. 

Clause IV reads as follows : 

A school board may, and where required by the department shall, provide for the 
medical examination and supervision of the pupils attending schools within their dis- 
trict to such extent and subject to such requirements as may from time to time be 
prescribed by any code or minute of the department, and for the purposes of this sec- 
tion the school boards may employ medical officers or nurses, or arrange with voluntary 
agencies for the supply of nurses, and provide appliances or other requisites. * * * 

The department has exercised its compulsory powers under this 
clause, and the medical inspection of school children is introduced 
into Scotland for the first time, and schemes have been framed all 
over the country for this purpose. It may perhaps be sufficient to 
describe one scheme as adopted by a particular county, viz, that of 
Midlothian, which has some 20,000 school children scattered through 
small towns and villages, as giving an idea how the clause works out in 
practice. The new county committees on secondary education, which 
have been already referred to and which have been appointed on 
schemes drawn up by the Scotch education department since the 
passing of the act, have been intrusted in conjunction with the school 
boards with the drawing up of schemes and have also power to pay 
half the salary of a medical officer. The Midlothian county committee 
on secondary education therefore approached the various school 
boards and suggested the drawing up of a scheme by which the 
expenses of such medical inspection should be shared, and thus the 
total cost of the inspection ordered by the Scotch education depart- 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 525 

ment diminished. The county council ah-eady had a medical officer 
of its own, who had to deal with the various provisions under the acts 
dealing with public health and sanitation, including the sanitation of 
schools, and therefore a scheme was drawn up by which the existing 
chief medical officer for the county was also made responsible for the 
medical inspection of the school children (receiving an honorarium 
of £60 from the county committee). Another medical man was 
appointed to be assistant to the chief medical officer at a salary 
of £250 per annum, a trained nurse was appointed at £80 per 
annum, while there is an allowance of £100 for traveling expenses, 
£50 for apparatus, and £100 for clerical assistance, making a total 
expenditure in Midlothian on the medical inspection of school 
children of £640. The county of Peebles, which is a thinly 
populated county, joined with Midlothian in this scheme. The 
assistant medical officer has already been engaged in going round the 
schools inspecting the children and preparing a report on the first 
results of his work, and it is already evident that more assistance will 
be required if the work is to be efficiently carried out. It may there- 
fore be roughly estimated that the cost of the medical inspection of 
school children for a county consisting of scattered villages and small 
towns and with some 20,000 children will be at least £640 a year and 
probably more. One of the most interesting and complete reports 
which has been published in connection with this new movement is 
by the medical officer of the Carnegie Dunfermline trust. 

FEEDING AND CARE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN. 

The next clauses of great interest are Clause III, subsection (2), 
which deals with the provision of accommodation, apparatus, equip- 
ment, and service for the preparation and supply of meals to school 
children, and Clause VI, which deals with neglected children. It is 
too early yet to say what the full effect of these clauses will be, but 
they must profoundly influence the future of all children in the 
country who belong to the more poverty-stricken classes, while their 
bearing and scope, and the way in which they are being dealt with by 
the larger school boards, can best, perhaps, be shown by quoting from 
a report of a committee of the school board of Edinburgh, which has 
been appointed to deal with the question. 

This report begins by dealing with the statutory position in the 
following terms: 

THE STATUTORY POSITION. 

The parts of the 1908 act concerned with the question under discus- 
sion are as follows : 

Sections. It ehall be lawful for a school board, if they think fit, * * * to incur 
expenditure, and to defray the same out of the school fund. * * * 

(2) In providing accommodation, apparatus, equipment, and service for the prepara- 
tion and supply of meals to pupils attending schools within their district, provided 



526 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

that no expense incurred in the purchase of food prepared and served at such meals 
shall be defrayed out of the school fund, except as hereinafter provided. 

Section 6. (1) When as the result of medical inspection or otherwise it is brought 
to the notice of a school board that a child attending a school within their district is in 
a filthy or verminous state, or is unable by reason of lack of food or of clothing to take 
full advantage of the education provided, it shall be the duty of the school board, after 
due warning, to summon either or both of the parents or the guardian of such child to 
appear before them to give an explanation of the child's condition, and if the school 
board shall find that such explanation is not forthcoming or is insufficient or unsatis- 
factory, and that the condition of the child is due to neglect, they shall transmit a copy 
of such finding to the parent or parents or guardian of the child and to the procurator- 
fiscal, and it shall be the duty of the procurator-fiscal to institute a prosecution under 
the subsection immediately following. 

(2) Without prejudice to the general operation of the prevention of cruelty to chil- 
dren act, 1904, or any act amending the same, neglect to exercise due care of a child 
as aforesaid shall be deemed wilful neglect, likely to cause the child unnecessary 
suffering within the meaning of such act, punishable summarily as an offense of cruelty 
in terms of such act and subject to the provisions thereof as to the committal and 
custody of the child and otherwise: Provided, that if it shall be shown to the satisfac- 
tion of the school board, or in the event of a prosecution under such act of the sheriff 
that such parent or parents or guardian are unable by reason of poverty or ill health to 
supply sufficient and proper food or clothing for the child or to give the child the neces- 
sary personal attention, the school board, if satisfied that the necessities of the case 
will not be provided for by voluntary agency, shall make such provision for the child 
out of the school fund as they deem necessary during such period while the child is 
under obligation to attend school as they may determine. But it is hereby provided 
that any aid given in terms of this section shall not deprive such parent or guardian of 
any franchise, right, or privilege, or subject him to any disability: Provided also, that 
the school board, where they deem it necessary, owing to the condition of the child, 
shall have power to make temporary provision for the child out of the school fund, 
pending the completion of the procedure hereby prescribed, and to recover the cost 
of such provision from such parent or guardian as an alimentary debt, unless it is shown 
to the satisfaction of the school board that such parent or guardian was unable, by 
reason of poverty or ill health, to supply sufficient and proper food or clothing for the 
child, or to give the child the necessary personal attention. 

It will be seen that section 3 (2) is permissive, while section 6 is 
mandatory, if certain conditions are satisfied. The substance of the 
sections in question may be classified as follows : 

(1) The power to supply apparatus, accommodation, equipment, and service, but 
not food, for children attending schools within the district. 

(2) The duty to supply food to pupils attending schools in the district if the board 
is satisfied (a) that the pupil's education is suffering from want of food; (b) that the 
parents are necessitous; and (c) that voluntary effort will not provide for the neces- 
sities of the case. These three conditions must jointly hold before the board can 
pay for food. If they do so hold, then the board must provide the food. 

(3) The duty to institute, through the fiscal, prosecutions of parents in respect 
of whose children condition (a) above holds, but (b) is not satisfied. 

(4) The power to feed children shown to be suffering from want of food pending 
investigation of the circumstances of the parent, and subject to recovery of cost in 
nonnecessitous cases. 

The position of the board is that it has decided to exercise the 
optional powers referred to in (1). As regards the duties referred 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 527 

to in (2) and (3), and the power referred to in (4), no action has yet 
been taken, but it is evident that the operation of medical inspection 
(now in full swing) and the customary evidence of underfeeding 
which arises each winter will force the board on the need for carrying 
out its statutory duties under the act, subject to the limitations as 
regards the success of voluntary effort stated above. 

The report then proceeds to deal with the condition of the problem 
in Edinburgh, and discusses the best means of carrying out the 
duties of the board under the act. They have decided in the first 
place to establish a cooking center for the provision of meals in 
accordance with the powers conferred upon them under clause III, 
subsection (2) of the act. With reference to the condition of desti- 
tute cliildren in Edinburgh, there has existed for some years a chari- 
table organization known as the Flora Stevenson fund, which pro- 
vides meals and, if necessary, clothing, in necessitous cases. Under 
the act it will be noted that the school board is expected to take 
full advantage of such voluntary agencies and, keeping that condi- 
tion in view, the following recommendations have been drawn up for 
the consideration of the school board: 

(1) That the board having considered as to its duties in regard to the feeding of 
necessitous children under the education (Scotland) act, 1908, are of opinion that a 
central children's care committee as described below would give valuable assistance 
in carrying out the said duties. 

(2) That accordingly such a committee be established for the purpose of (a) securing 
and administering voluntary funds to be used in the payment of the cost of food 
for necessitous children as prescribed in the act, (b) determining as to the need for 
relief in all cases where prima facie evidence of necessity is submitted, (c) imifying 
the operations of charitable agencies in so far as these deal with the feeding of chil- 
dren in attendance at schools within the district of the board. 

(3) That the committee be composed of representatives of the board, of such societies 
and voluntary agencies as are willing to cooperate with the board in the matter, and 
of other influential and representative elements of the community. 

(4) That a system of local children's care committees be instituted for such groups 
of schools as the board may hereafter determine, and that the duties of those com- 
mittees be as follows: (a) To make recommendations to the central care committee 
as to the children who should be regarded as necessitous; (b) to manage and super- 
vise, subject to the board's direction, the local arrangements for feeding; (c) to take 
part in and have a general supervision over all the charitable and relief work which 
is concerned with the schools for which the local committee is responsible. 

We have thus had it clearly laid down that, on the one hand it is 
the duty of the State through its educational organization not only 
to teach the children, but to take care that they are properly fed and 
clothed and living in a decent environment, and, on the other hand, 
it is also the duty of the State to punish the parents or guardians 
and compel them to fulfill their duties. It is unnecessary to point 
out to those who have studied social questions what far-reaching 
results provisions of this kind must necessarily have. 



528 EDUCATION KM»ORT, 1910. 

POST-ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 

To pass from these questions to the arrangements for carrying on 
the education of children after they have passed the elementary 
stage, many interesting developments are taking place in Scotland. 
The age for leaving school in Scotland has since 1901 been 14, and 
this remains the same under the new act, with the exception that a 
child who has reached the age of 14 during the school session is now 
required to complete the school term. During the last two years of 
his school career he is supposed, if he is going on with the ordinary 
elementary education, to be in what is known as a supplementary 
class. 

SUPPLEMENTARY COURSES. 

The idea is that this class, while continuing the general education 
of the child, should at the same time impart to him a certain amount 
of specialized instruction in such directions as are likely to be useful 
in after life. The girls receive instruction in domestic economy, the 
boys in the country schools get instruction in nature knowledge and 
in gardening, and the boys in the town schools get instruction in 
technical and commercial subjects. Here again these supplementary 
classes are still too new to judge of their possible future development. 
Their success necessarily involves many other things, for instance, 
the supply of specially trained teachers qualified to carry out this 
special instruction, and up to the present time the supply of such 
teachers is most undoubtedly inadequate. It is probable, however, 
that we see here the roots that will ultimately grow into some system 
of trade schools similar to those existing on the Continent. 

HIGHER GRADE SCHOOLS. 

The child who wishes to receive an education more of the nature 
of a secondary education, either with a view to becoming a teacher 
or with a view to ultimately passing on to the university, or merely 
for educational reasons, goes to certain selected schools known as 
higher grade schools. To take, for instance, a local example of 
higher grade schools, we have in the district of Colinton, which is 
witliin 3 or 4 miles of Edinburgh, a school board which has under its 
control five elementary schools, and in connection with one of these 
schools there is provided what is known as a higher grade depart- 
ment, which has to serve not only for the district of Colinton, with 
its five elementary schools, but has also to supply the needs of the 
neighboring school board area of Currie, the geographical position 
of Currie being such that children from that district can manage to 
attend the higher grade school of the Colinton district. Here the 
education of the children is carried on on broad lines, English, math- 
ematics, modern languages, science, and drawing forming part of 
the curriculum, the final standard aimed at being that known as the 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 529 

intermediate certificate, of which a full explanation will be given 
later. 

When the large higher grade schools were first opened in the big 
to^\^ns such as Edinburgh, it was feared that they would compete 
with the existing secondary school system, the children in the sec- 
ondary schools paying fees, while the children attending the higher 
grade schools receive their instruction free. This has not proved to 
be the case. Since the openmg of the large higher grade schools in 
Edinburgh, which are crowded with pupils, there has been no indi- 
cation that the secondary schools have in any way suffered. This 
is perhaps best shown by the returns of George Heriot's school in 
Edinburgh, because among the various secondary schools in the 
city this school provides a secondary education for the lowest fees, 
and the lines of the education given have always been — while classical 
languages have not been neglected — in the direction of modern lan- 
guages, the teaching of science and workshop instruction. If, 
therefore, any school in Edinburgh was likely to feel the competition 
of the higher grade schools it should have been George Heriot's 
school. As an actual fact, in spite of the newer higher grade schools 
being overcrowded with pupils, this school has had during the last 
two years a larger number of applicants seeking admission than it 
has been possible to accommodate, so that it is evident that the 
higher grade school in a big city is providing a secondary education 
to meet a demand which did not exist before these schools were 
opened. 

Secondary Education. 

To continue the subject of secondary education the Scotch educa- 
tion department has been encouraging the teaching of modern lan- 
guages and the development of science teaching in secondary schools 
and the provision of the necessary equipment, and the result has been 
a very large development in the teaching of science. The Scotch 
education department has also made use of its system of grants to 
secondary schools to require other improvements, more especiall}^ the 
diminution of the number of pupils per teacher, and these schools are 
regularly inspected by the department's inspectors. 

LEAVING CERTIFICATES. 

But the most interesting of these developments is in connection 
with the leaving certificates which are granted by the department. 
The conditions of the leaving certificate have been gradually under- 
going modification, and are still in process of development, but the 
present position is as follows : The intermediate certificate is awarded 
to pupils at the age of 15 or 16, who have had at least a three years' 
course of instruction, beyond the elementary school stage, in English, 
59041°— ED 1910— VOL 1 34 



530 EDUCATION REf»OIlT, 1910. 

a language other than English, mathematics, science, and drawing, 
and who satisfy the examiners of the department as to their profi- 
ciency in these subjects, excellence in one subject compensating in 
some degree for deficiency in another. The leaving certificate is 
granted to pupils who have gone through a course of study lasting 
over two or more years after obtaining the intermediate certificate, 
and who have reached the age of 17 or 18. Candidates for the leav- 
ing certificate must have passed in four subjects on what is known 
as the higher standard, or in three subjects on the higher standard 
and two on the lower standard, and among these subjects the pass 
must include a higher EngHsh and either a higher or a lower in mathe- 
matics. The remaining subjects may be either science with one or 
more languages, or languages only, but where two or more languages 
other than English are taken, the group must include either higher 
or lower Latin. These are the existing regulations. 

The Scotch education department proposes to modify these and 
has asked the head masters of the secondary schools to draw up 
schemes for leaving certificates of various kinds, for the consideration 
of the department. In a recent report made by the general council 
of the University of Edinburgh there was included a report by a sub- 
committee on the question of the conditions of entrance to the uni- 
versities. This subcommittee consisted of some of the leading sec- 
ondary schoolmasters in Scotland, and they pointed out that the 
department, having made this proposal regarding various groups for 
the leaving certificate to be drawn up, they wished to submit the fol- 
lowing groups as being such as the department would be likely to 
accept, and at the same time such as would meet the wishes of the 
head masters. The subcommittee also suggested that if such groups 
were accepted by the Scotch education department, they should also 
be accepted by the university in Heu of the preliminary examination 
required from those entering on a degree course. In that report it 
was pointed out that the leaving certificate of the future will not, ac- 
cording to the plan of the department, represent so definitely as the 
existing certificate a certain standard of attainment in a certain more 
or less fixed group of subjects, as one pupil may be awarded a leaving 
certificate on the successful completion of a course in which the main 
subjects are Latin and Greek; another may be awarded a leaving cer- 
tificate after a course in modern languages; and another after a course 
in science, and so on. The report goes on to say, "It may, we think, 
be assumed that the department will be prepared to award a leaving 
certificate on the completion of any approved course for a pass on the 
higher grade standard in three subjects, one of the three subjects be- 
ing English, and further, that each approved course will make pro- 
vision for the study of at least four subjects.'' This means that the 
schoolmaster will be required to submit to the Scotch education 



EDUCATIONALi DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 531 

department the coui'se of study through which the pupil has been, and 
that that course will have to include four subjects, but that the student 
will be examined on three of them. The following, then, are samples 
of such courses of study for the leaving certificate, drawn up by this 
subcommittee of head masters, and they may be considered as repre- 
senting on the one hand the views of the leading head masters of the 
Scotch secondary schools, and, on the other hand, as being probably 
equally acceptable to the Scotch education department. 

SAMPLE POST-INTERMEDIATE COURSES. 

[N. B.— The subjects in Italics in each course are those in which the pupil speciaUzes.] 

A. Language courses: 

English. 
History. 

Latm Greek U ny two. 
French, German) 

B. English and history courses: 

English. 

History. 

Latin, Greek ). 

French, German/ ^ 

One other university (arts) subject. 

C. Mathematical and science courses: 

English. 

Mathematics, or mathematics and natural science. 

Physical science. 

Another language. 

D. Commercial courses: 

English. 

A modern language. 

Economics and economic history. 

One other university (arts) subject. 

E. General course (for pupils who do not intend to specialize): 

English. 

History. 

Mathematics or science. 

Another language. 

LATIN OPTIONAL. 

Perhaps the most interesting fact to notice about these groups is, 
that it is possible in more than one of them, to leave out the study of 
Latin altogether. The proposal is therefore definitely made that a 
boy should be able to enter the university not only for a medical, 
scientific, or technical course without Latin, but also that he should 
be able to enter upon his course for the degree of M. A. without Latin. 
We shall have to consider presently the changes that have been made 
recently in the curriculum for the degree of M. A. at the Scottish 
universities, but in the meantime it is worth noting the reasons that 
are given why these head masters have come to this decision. They 
point out that under the present regulations of the university, it is 



532 EDUCATION EiypOKT, 1910. 

possible for a student to take the M. A. degree without including 
among his subjects the study of Latin, and consequently that the 
only demand made upon him is that he should pass an examination 
in Latin at the university preliminary examination of a standard no 
higher than the pass in Latin required by the Scotch education depart- 
ment for the intermediate certificate. That is to say that the uni- 
versity on the one hand requires from the student for the M. A. 
degree an amount of Latin that can be easily learned by a boy who 
ceases to study the subject after the age of 15, and that it requires 
no more. Under these circumstances, these head masters think it 
would be far better to make Latin optional. It is unlikely that the 
universities will accept this suggestion, but it is significant of the 
general tendencies underlying secondary education in Scotland that 
such a proposal should be made by those in responsible positions. 

It should also be mentioned that in connection with the leaving 
certificate examinations the opinion of the head master is more and 
more being taken as to the qualifications of the pupil, wliile his school 
record is also taken into account in addition to the actual examination. 

CONTINUATION CLASSES IN THE COUNTIES. 

To return to the pupil who has attended a supplementary course 
at the elementary schools, and does not intend to pass on either to 
the higher grade or the secondary school, it is important to note 
what provision is made for continuing his education. Let us assume 
that on leaving school at the age of 14, he goes to work. The pro- 
vision which is made for his further education has so far, in Scotland, 
taken the form almost entirely of evening classes. For the admin- 
istration of these evening classes the Scotch education department 
has drawn up a special code, known as the continuation classes code, 
and under the recent education act (Clause X) school boards are 
required to provide such continuation classes in their respective 
districts. 

To deal first with the country centers, this clause in the act might 
have given rise to a certain amount of difficulty, as the technical 
instruction committees of the county councils which formerly existed, 
and which had certain funds in their hands, had already, in a great 
many cases, organized in Scotland a fairly complete system of even- 
ing continuation classes, with peripatetic teachers, and it is evident 
that such instruction in country districts is better to be in the hands 
of some central body, each little country school board being quite 
unable to deal with this question adequately. Fortunately, the 
school boards have recognized this fact, and the new secondary edu- 
cation cordmittees of the counties have taken over the former duties, 
both of the technical and secondary education committees, and have 
also taken over with them the organizing secretaries who had already 



EDUCATIONAL. DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 533 

been appointed, and the teaching staffs. It has been found more 
economical for the local school boards to utilize these teaching staffs, 
and they have also found it of advantage to keep in touch with the 
organizing secretaries and get them to inspect the classes. The sec- 
ondary education committees have also got a special hold upon these 
classes, owing to the fact that they have the power to grant scholar- 
ships to take pupils from these local continuation classes to the 
central institutions, and that it depends upon the approval by the 
central institution of the instruction given in these classes that these 
scholarsliips are granted. As these central institutions are anxious 
to see something like a' complete and uniform organization at work 
in the counties, the act has not resulted in the confusion that might 
have been expected, and practically the old organizing secretaries 
and the old machinery are at work under the new secondary educa- 
tion committees, developing on satisfactory lines the instruction 
provided in the evening continuation classes. 

CONTINUATION CLASSES IN THE CITIES. 

In the large towns, such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, and 
Aberdeen, the school boards have an elaborate system of evening 
classes, which are directly affihated to the evening classes held in the 
central tecluiical institutions, such as the Glasgow and West of Scot- 
land Technical College; the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh; Robert 
Gordon's Technical College, Aberdeen; and the Technical Institute, 
Dundee. Courses of study have been drawn up by wliich the stu- 
dents obtain a course lasting over two to three years in the evening 
continuation classes held by the school board, and thereafter qualified 
pupils pass on to the more advanced instruction provided in the 
central institutions. I have not space here to discuss this system in 
detail, and can only deal with its general results. In Edinburgh, 
which has a population of about 350,000, there are 8,800 students 
attending the evening classes under the school board. To this 
number must be added 3,000 students who are attending the evening 
classes at the Heriot-Watt College, and 600 attending the evening 
classes held at the Edinburgh College of Art, making a total of 12,400 
lads and girls under instruction. In Glasgow, which has a population, 
exclusive of suburban burghs, of some 770,000, there were in 1907-8 
some 14,900 young people receiving further instruction in continua- 
tion classes other than the central institutions, and 5,900 students 
attending the central institutions, making a total of 20,800 students. 
At first sight these figures seem gratifying, but on analysis it can be 
easily shown that these large totals are made up principally of stu- 
dents who are in the more elementary stages, and that the leakage 
between the elementary stages and more advanced stages is from 
year to year enormous, while to a great extent the central institu- 



534 EDUCATION KEPORT; 1910. 

tions, such as the Heriot-Watt College and the Edinburgh College 
of Art, are filled with a new class of students who enter on more 
advanced and speciahzed instruction straight from the secondary 
schools, and do not represent students who have carried on a con- 
tinuous course of instruction from the elementary classes of the 
school board to the more advanced classes conducted in the central 
institution. The following statistics for the whole of Scotland for 
1907-8 illustrate this very clearly: 

Number of students. 

Division II (including first year of Division III) 73, 012 

Division III: 

Second year 5, 389 

Third year 2,666 

Fourth year 879 

The system is, of course, a voluntary one, and has the faults of 
such a voluntary system, while the fact that the instruction is given 
in the evening is a serious drawback to its having full value, except 
in the case of a few exceptional students who have the physique, 
the determination, and the force of character to take full advantage 
of evening instruction after they have finished their day's work. 
There can be no doubt, therefore, that the question of the training 
of the apprentice on German lines — that is to say, his training in 
day classes — is coming more and more to the front, and will have to be 
faced sooner or later in Scotland. As an actual fact provision has 
already been made for this under the recent act. 

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AT CONTINUATION CLASSES. 

In the first place, the continuation-classes code is drawn up on 
such elastic lines that it can be utilized either for evening or for day 
instruction, and, as was pointed out to me some years ago when it 
was first pubhshed by the Scotch education department by that 
department's able chief, it is not an evening continuation-classes 
code, but a continuation-classes code, with the word "evening" left 
out. Under the new act a school board has the power, if it chooses, 
to make attendance at evening classes compulsory, but only on this 
condition, that the total number of hours that the young person is 
employed at work or in receiving instruction shall not be more than 
the total number of hours of work allowed under the factory acts. 
The clause referred to [Clause X, subsection (3)] reads as follows: 

It shall be lawful for a school board from time to time to make, vary, and revoke 
bye-laws for requiriug the attendance at continuation classes until such age, not 
exceediag 17 years, as may be specified in the bye-laws, of yoimg persons above 
the age of 14 years within their district who are not otherwise receiving a suitable 
education, or are not specially exempted by the school board from the operation 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 535 

of the bye-laws, and that at such times and for such periods as may in such bye-la wa 
be specified. Such bye-laws may also require all persons within the district having 
in regular employment any young person to whom such bye-laws apply to notify the 
same to the board at times specified in the bye-laws, with particulars as to hours 
during which the young person is employed by them. 

Subsection (5) of the same clause reads as follows: 

If any person fails to notify the school board in terms of any such bye-law in regard 
to young persons employed by him, or knowingly employs a young person at any 
time when his attendance is by any such bye-law required at a continuation class, 
or for a number of hours, which when added to the time required under any such 
bye-law to be spent at a continuation class causes the hours of employment and the 
time so spent taken together to exceed in any day or week, as the case may be, the 
period of employment permitted for such young person by any act of Parliament, 
he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding twenty shillings, 
or, in case of a second or subsequent offence, whether relating to the same or to 
another young person, not exceeding five pounds. 

Subsection (6) of the same clause imposes like penalties upon 
parents who, by willful default or habitual neglect, do not secure the 
attendance at continuation classes of their young people. 

We have here, on the one hand, the power to make continuation 
classes compulsory, and, on the other hand, a limitation of the hours 
in which the instruction must be obtained. It is evident that in all 
cases where lads and girls are now being worked to the full number 
of hours allowed by the factory acts, it is impossible to establish 
compulsory attendance at evening classes, but it is allowable, if nec- 
essary, to take the time for receiving instruction at continuation 
classes out of the time spent in the workshop, and in this way young 
people are safeguarded against overwork either on the part of their 
employers or by the educational machine. 

DAY CLASSES FOR APPRENTICES. 

Day classes for apprentices are already developing tentatively in 
England, and have begun in Scotland, and it is probable that the 
next few years will see a great development in this direction. 

Bursaries. 

There is no country in the world that is so well provided as Scot- 
land with bursaries to enable students to attend universities and the 
secondary schools, and yet, in spite of this, there seems to be always 
a demand for more bursaries. Among the duties which have been 
laid upon the new secondary education committees of the county 
councils under the education (Scotland) act, 1908, is that of pro- 
viding bursaries to enable students to come from the elementary to 
the intermediate schools, and again in providing bursaries to enable 
students to go to the central institutions, or to attend evening 
classes, or to take them to the universities. They also have to pro- 



536 EDUCATION EEfSpORT, 1910. 

vide bursaries for those who are teachers in training in the higher 
grade schools and who will ultimately pass on to the Central Training 
College for Teachers. 

THE BURSARY SYSTEM AS IT IS. 

So far the bursary system in Scotland has developed on the lines 
which obtain elsewhere; that is to say, that money originally designed 
for the purpose of enabling the poor but ambitious boy to obtain a 
higher education has finally fallen into the hands of the boy who 
does not require the money, but has the opportunity of getting such 
special teaching at the expense of the school or by means of coach- 
ing. This is notoriously so in the case of the Oxford and Cambridge 
scholarsliips, which in very few cases ever reach the class for which 
they were originally intended. 

THE BURSARY SYSTEM AS THE DEPARTMENT WISHES IT SHOULD BE. 

The department has determined to make an heroic effort to break 
through this as far as bursaries provided out of its moneys are con- 
cerned, and therefore they have laid down certain conditions for the 
granting of these bursaries, and these conditions are of considerable 
interest. 

In the first place the number of bursaries and their value is not 
fixed beforehand, but apphcations are invited from lads who wish 
either to go on with their secondary education or to attend a central 
institution. These lads are then required to fill up a form on which 
information is given not only as to their school career, but also as to 
the financial position of their parents. It is then the duty of the 
committee to find out in the first place from the headmaster of the 
school the order of merit of these students in respect of their attain- 
ments. After having taken the reports on their attainments and 
their financial circumstances into full consideration, the committee 
grants such a number of bursaries and of such an amount as they 
may tliink fit out of the funds they have to administer. There is no 
competitive examination and there is no fixed amount of bursar}^", 
as the amount given is to be according to the need, and bursaries are 
only to be given where the need exists. It is obvious that this is a 
most interesting experiment and a most strildng departure from 
the traditional system in tliis country, where every tiling is given on 
the results of a competitive examination. 

It will require the most careful and sympathetic administration 
on the part of the various committees concerned, and to some of 
those who are accustomed to old methods the scheme seems some- 
what bewildering. How far it is being administered with the nec- 
essary care it is too early to say, but from my own experience of one 
committee I can certainly testify that the bursaries are being awarded 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 537 

with, great care to those who require them and who can reall}- make 
use of them. 

This experiment, then, of the Scotch education department in 
trying to make their bursary system really fulfill the purpose for which 
other bursary systems were designed, will be watched with interest 
by other countries. 

Central Institutions. 

In the brief account I have already given of the continuation 
school work, the central institutions for technical education have 
already been referred to, but it is necessary to deal with these insti- 
tutions more completely. 

In the first place, the two earliest institutions of the kind in Scot- 
land are the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, and the Glasgow and 
West of Scotland Technical College, Glasgow; the former was origi- 
nally known as the Watt Institution and School of Arts and the 
latter as the Andersonian Institution. These institutions existed for 
the purpose of providing instruction in evening classes, and were 
linked up with the system of examinations carried on by the depart- 
ment of science and art. Day departments, in addition to the even- 
ing departments, were subsequently gradually developed. It is nec- 
essary here to enter into the history of these institutions in more 
detail, but their present position in relation to teclmical education 
should be explained. 

GRANTS TO THE CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS. 

In the year 1900 the administration of the science and art grants, 
which had formerly been in the hands of the South Kensington sci- 
ence and art department, was for Scotland handed over to the Scotch 
education department, and advantage was taken of this to at once 
get rid of the system which has done so much to injure education in 
England by paying grants on the results of the examinations con- 
ducted by the science and art department. This step has enabled 
the Scotch education department to gradually develop the policy 
which it is now pursuing with reference to these central institutions. 
Besides the grants which are paid to the school boards for evening 
continuation work — grants based practically^ on attendance — the 
department has taken power to itself to treat such institutions as 
it chooses to select as central institutions, on quite a different basis 
and under certain conditions. Generally speaking, these conditions 
are that all appointments made to the staffs must be referred to the 
department for approval; that the calendar and report of the insti- 
tution are submitted annually to the department; that the scheme 
under which the diploma of the institution is granted must receive the 
approval of the department ; that outside assessors are appointed to act 



538 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

with the staff of the college in the examinations for the diploma, and 
that these assessors must be approved by the department; and that 
the institution is open at all times to inspection by the department, 
either by its own inspecting staff or by a special expert appointed to 
report on some particular department. 

To these central institutions the department makes grants, which, 
since the passing of the education act of 1908, are practically on the 
basis of meeting the deficiency in the maintenance expenditure. 
Under the act various sums and funds were consoUdated for educa- 
tional purposes. These funds, while all of imperial origin, had been 
partly in the hands of the Scotch education department and partly 
in the hands of various local authorities. The uses to which these 
consolidated funds and moneys are to be put are laid down under 
the act. One of the uses is laid down by Clause XVI, subsection (c), 
which reads as follows : 

To making payment to central institutions in respect of either capital or mainte- 
nance expenditure of such sums as the department may determine, being in respect 
of maintenance sums not less in amount than the sums paid to such institutions respec- 
tively for the like purpose in the year ending the thirty-first day of March, one thou- 
sand nine hundred and nine, by county councils and town councils from the amounts 
received by such councils under subsection (iii) (6) of section two of the local taxa- 
tion (customs and excise) act, 1890. 

In addition, there is a certain residue from these funds which can 
be used to make grants toward capital expenditure, such grants 
amounting to not more than one-half of the total expenditure. 
Under this clause the Scotch education department has issued a 
minute which gives it power to make such arrangements with 
each central institution as it may think fit as to the proportion of 
the total expenditure which has to be met from fees and local sources 
of income, so that the practical result is that these central institu- 
tions are being financed by the department under the conditions 
which have already been mentioned. These conditions naturally 
result in giving these central institutions the greatest possible free- 
dom to develop. 

To deal, in the first place, with the Heriot-Watt College and the 
Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, these institutions, 
while engaged in a large amount of evening-class work — in the case 
of the Heriot-Watt College in technical, scientific, trade, and com- 
mercial teaching, and in the case of the Glasgow Technical College 
in technical, scientific, and trade subjects — have been growing 
stronger and stronger as day engineering and technical chemistry 
schools, the courses of instruction being of university standard and 
leading up to a stiff diploma, and in some cases developing into highly 
specialized post-graduate courses attended by students already hold- 
ing a science degree. There have also been established in Scotland 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 539 

three agricultural colleges — at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, 
respectively — and these colleges also are recognized by the depart- 
ment as central institutions. There are in addition the following 
other institutions, which are recognized as central institutions, viz: 
The Edinburgh College of Art (opened two years ago), the Glasgow 
School of Art, the Glasgow Athenaeum Commercial College, the Leith 
Nautical College, the Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic 
Economy, and the Royal Dick Veterinary College. 

RELATION OF CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS TO THE UNIVERSITIES. 

The growth of these central institutions and the development of 
their day work on university lines has gradually caused to emerge a 
very interesting problem, and that is what their relationship is to be 
to existing Scottish universities. In some cases the work done in the 
central institution is quite unrepresented in the university, and in 
other cases similar departments exist in the universities, the only 
difference being that while the university gives a degree, the central 
institution gives a diploma. It is, therefore, one of the most inter- 
esting problems of the future to have the relationship between the 
central institutions and the universities settled upon broad lines, so 
that they may fully cooperate and work freely together for the 
development of the higher education in scientific, technical, artistic, 
and agricultural subjects. So far, certain tentative arrangements 
have been made here and there, but nothing like a complete scheme 
has yet been developed, except in the case of one or two of the agri- 
cultural colleges. If a scheme is developed on broad lines, it will 
enormously strengthen the position of Scotland as being able to offer 
to students coming from various parts of the Empire a complete edu- 
cation of a university standard and in various departments of pure 
and applied science and art. 

The Scottish Universities. 

In order to understand the developments which have been taking 
place in connection with the Scottish universities it is necessary to 
know something of their recent history. This may be said to start 
from the universities commission of 1889, which was appointed by 
the Government with executive powers to deal with the whole inter- 
nal organization of the universities. 

THE UNIVERSITY ORDINANCES. 

This commission drew up a most elaborate scheme of ordinances, 
dealing with the details of the curriculum for every degree and the 
most minute conditions of university life. This commission also 
drew up regulations under which these ordinances could be altered 
or a new ordinance made, the regulations requiring that before any 



540 EDUCATION EEPOfiT, 1910. 

university made a new ordinance or any alteration in an existing 
ordinance it was required to submit the proposed new or altered 
ordinance to the other three universities, and afterwards to a com- 
mittee of the privy council, this committee of the privy council to 
consider the objections, if any, raised by the other universities, and 
finally to decide whether the proposed new or altered ordinance was 
to be accepted, modified, or referred back. It is unnecessary to 
point out that machinery of this kind is of the most cumbrous descrip- 
tion, and makes it an exceedingly difficult matter to get any change 
made in an ordinance or to make a new ordinance. The four univer- 
sities naturally watch each other very closely, and very often raise 
objections which are not necessarily to the advantage of higher edu- 
cation. In spite of this, however, new ordinances are passed from 
time to time, and in recent years the tendency has been for the uni- 
versities to take sufficient powers within the ordinance itself for its 
modification, so as to avoid the necessity of referring every little pro- 
posed change in the curriculum to the consideration of the other uni- 
versities and of the privy council. 

AUTONOMY FOR THE UNIVERSITIES. 

By this side door the universities are recovering some of the auton- 
omy which they ought never to have lost, and which other univer- 
sities possess as a matter of course. There have been several new 
ordinances passed lately, both in connection with the medical curric- 
ulum and with the arts curriculum. 

The new ordinance for degrees in medicine, however, is evidently 
not satisfactory, as there is a strong agitation among those engaged 
in the teaching of medicine for a new ordinance, the fundamental 
difficulty being that the course for a medical student is supposed to 
last for five years, while it is becoming more and more obvious that 
under modern conditions a period of six years is required to give the 
student of medicine an adequate training. 

NEW ORDINANCE FOR THE ARTS DEGREE. 

The ordinance dealing with the arts curriculum is, however, the 
more important, and its bearing will be shown by certain quotations 
from it. In order to understand the meaning of the ordinance, 
however, it is necessary to say something about the history of the 
arts degree in Scotland. Before the universities commission of 1889 
the curriculum for the arts degree consisted of seven subjects — viz, 
Latin, mathematics, EngHsh literature, physics, moral philosophy, 
metaphysics, and Greek. This course of study was based upon the 
old mediaeval degree, the chair of EngHsh being called the chair of 
rhetoric and English literature, physics being called natural philos- 
ophy, while moral philosophy and metaphysics covered the ground 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 541 

of the old subject of philosophy in mediaeval times. The first modi- 
fication took place under the commission of 1889, by which a con- 
siderable number of additional subjects were introduced and more 
specialization allowed to the student. This policy of increasing the 
numb'er of subjects required for the degree and allowing of greater 
specialization has been carried further in the new ordinance we are 
now considering. In the first place, the ordinance lays down that 
"before entering on the curriculum each student shall pass a pre- 
liminary examination in the following subjects: English, Latin or 
Greek, mathematics ; one of the following : Latin or Greek, if not already 
taken; French, German, Italian, or such other language as the senatus 
may approve; dynamics." This is the same preliminary examina- 
tion as was in force before the ordinance was passed, and in lieu of 
this preliminary examination the leaving certificates, which have 
already been discussed, have been accepted in the individual sub- 
jects. To quote further from the ordinance, Clause VI reads: 

The curriculum for the ordinary degree shall consist of five subjects, of which two 
subjects shall each be studied for two academical years, and the degree examinations 
in these two subjects shall be on a higher standard than the degree examinations in 
the other three subjects; provided that it shall be in the power of the senatus, with 
the approval of the university court, to reckon courses in two cognate subjects (and 
wherever so determined by the senatus and university court, studied in separate 
academical years) as two courses in one subject, the examinations in the cognate 
subjects being on the same standard as if each of the subjects had been taken in a 
single course. 

******* 

Clause VIII reads: 

The departments of study for graduation in arts, with or without honors, shall 
include the following subjects, with such additions as may hereafter be made by 
the senatus, with the approval of the university court * * * . These are as 
follows: 

1. Language and literature. 



Latin . 


Spanish. 


Greek. 


Sanskrit. 


English. 


Hebrew. 


French. 


Arabic. 


German. 


Syriac. 


Italian. 


Celtic. 




2. Mental philosophy. 


Logic and metaphysics. 


Educatio] 


Moral philosophy. 


Philosoph 


Political economy. 






S. Science. 


Mathematics. 


Zoology. 


Natural philosophy. 


Botany. 


Astronomy. 


Geology. 


Chemistry. 


Geograph; 



Education (theory, history, and art of). 



542 EDUCATION EEPORT, 1910. 

4. History and laiv. 

History. Roman law. 

Archseology and art (history of). Public international law. 

Constitutional law and history. International private law. 

General jurisprudence. Geography. 

Clause IX reads as follows: 

The senatus, with the approval of the university court, shall have power to make 
from time to time regulations regarding the definition and grouping of the subjects in 
each of the departments of study, the selection of subjects for the curriculum, their 
classification as cognate, and the order in which they are to be studied, and also 
regarding the standards of the degree examinations and the conditions of admission 
thereto. 

From these clauses it mil be at once evident that in the first place, 
beyond the necessity of what has been defined as intensive study in 
two subjects, complete freedom is given as to the nature of the M. A. 
degree, wliile the choice of subjects in which the degree can be taken 
is made very wade. In addition, it will be noted that by Clause IX 
the senatus is given full power to draw up siich regulations or schemes 
as it Hkes, while under Clause VIII it has power to add additional 
subjects. By this clause complete autonomy has been given to the 
universities, in so far as they have to deal with the M. A. degree. 
The ordinance of course contains many other clauses, but those 
quoted are of the most significance, and similar ordinances have now 
been obtained by the universities of Glasgow, St. Andrews, and 
Aberdeen. 

The manner in which the power of the senatus has been used in 
tliis respect in the different universities somewhat differs, and it is 
hardly possible to enter into the details here, but in the case of 
Edinburgh University, wliich is after all the most important, the 
final regulations wliich have been drawn up by the senatus are as 
foUows. In the first place, under these regulations the Mst of subjects 
grouped in the same departments of study are quoted, and the 
double courses in a single subject to be studied for two separate 
acadenucal years are recognized under Clause VI of the ordinance; 
and, in addition, the double courses in cognate subjects to be studied 
in two separate academical years are recognized under the same 
clause; that is to say, that where two subjects are recognized as 
cognate, the student can take a year in each instead of two years in 
one subject. 

//. Subjects and departments of study. 

The following are the subjects at present recognized in the four 
departments of study in which quahfying classes are estabhshed: 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 543 

1. Language and literature. 



English. 

Latin. 

Qreek. 

Celtic. 

French. 


German. 
Sanskrit. 
Hebrew. 
Arabic. 


i 


. Mental philosophy. 


Logic and metaphysics. 

Psychology. 

Moral philosophy. 


Political economy. 

Education (theory, history, and art of) 

8. Science. 


Mathematics. 
Natural philosophy. 
Astronomy. 
Chemistry. 


Zoology. 
Botany. 
Geology. 
Geography. 




4. History and law. 


History. 

Archaeology and art (history of). 
Constitutional law and history. 
Economic history. 


Roman law. 
Public law. 
Mercantile law. 
Geography. 



Ancient (Greek and Roman) history. 
Military history. 

III. Double courses. 

By a double course is meant the study of a subject for two sep- 
arate academical years, or the study of two cognate subjects in 
accordance with Section VI of the foregoing ordinance. 

Except in the cases in group (c) infra, or in individual cases where 
the senatus with the approval of the university court has, for cause 
duly shown, decided otherwise, the two courses in a double course 
shall not be taken in the same academic year; and except in such 
cases a student shall not be allowed to attend the second course of the 
double course before he has passed the M. A. examination in the first 
course or has satisfied some test recognized by the faculty of arts 
with the approval of the senatus as equivalent thereto. 

The following double courses are recognized : 

(a) Double courses in a single subject to be studied for two separate 
academical years: 

English. Hebrew. 

Latin. Moral philosophy. 

Greek. Mathematics. 

Celtic. Natural philosophy. 

French. Chemistry. 

German. Botany. 

Sanskrit. Geology. 



544 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

Q)) Double courses in cognate subjects to be studied in two separate 
academical years : 

English, with Latin, Greek, French, German, Celtic, or Sanskrit. 
English, with British history. 
Latin, with French or Celtic. 

Latin, followed by Roman law or classical archaeology. 
Greek, with Sanskrit or classical archaeology. 
Latin or Greek, followed by ancient history. 
French, with German or Celtic. 
Hebrew, followed by Arabic. 
Psychology, followed by education. 

Political economy, with economic history, geography, or mercantile law. 
Mathematics, followed by natural philosophy, chemistry, or astronomy. 
Natural philosophy, with chemistry. 
Any two of botany, zoology, geology. 
Botany, with chemistry or natural philosophy. 
Geology, followed by geography. 

British history, followed by constitutional, economic, ecclesiastical, or Scottish 
history or history of art. 

Geography, followed by history or economic history. 

Geography, with military history. 

Ancient history, followed by ecclesiastical history. 

(c) Double courses in cognate subjects to be studied in the same 
academical year or in two separate academical years: 

Latin, with Greek. 

Logic and philosophical introduction, with psychology. 

Logic and philosophical introduction, with moral philosophy. 

Psychology, with moral philosophy. 

Moral philosophy, with political economy. 

Ancient history, with British history. 

Ancient history, with classical archaeology. 

The only restrictions put on the curriculum are as follows: 

Every curriculum admitted for an ordinary degree must embrace subjects taken 
from at least three out of the four departments of study, enumerated in No. II of these 
additional regulations, geography to be reckoned for the present purpose as a subject 
in the department of history and law. 

Every student at the beginning of his first term must submit the subjects which he 
proposes for his cumculum, and at least a provisional order of study for the approval 
of the official ad\dsers, who act under the control of the faculty. 

Any subsequent alteration of the curriculum must be submitted to the official 
advisers and the dean. 

It is evident from this that a practically unlimited amount of 
freedom is given to the student in selecting his course of study; in 
fact he can virtually construct his course for his degree in arts upon 
almost any lines he chooses. The old idea, therefore, of the degree in 
arts representing a definite course of education and a definite standard 
of culture has entirely disappeared. One of the reasons for this 
policy has been the increasing demand for the M. A. degree on the 
part of those proposing to enter the teaching profession. These 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 545 

students wish to qualify themselves more and more in certain subjects 
which they think will be of value to them afterwards, and so the M. A. 
degree has ceased to be regarded as a general culture degree and has 
become a specialized degree to meet the requirements of the teaching 
profession. 

This scheme of the senatus was strenuously opposed by certain 
members of the general council, but they were defeated, and the 
scheme as it stands was approved of. Whether it is to be regarded 
as a real reform is a very different question, and it is looked upon 
by many with great doubt and hesitation. The passing of an ordi- 
nance which gives power to the senatus and the university court to 
deal with its own curriculum is certainly a step in the right direction, 
but it is perhaps unfortunate that the first opportunity which a 
Scotch university has had of exercising such autonomy has resulted 
in such a complete abandonment of any conception of what a uni- 
versity education means or what should be included in the M. A. 
degree, and it remains to be seen in the future what the outcome of 
this policy will be. 

Another reform which has recently been carried out in the Scotch 
universities is the adoption of the three-term system in place of the 
old system of a long winter session and a summer session devoted to 
special classes. 

IMPKRIAL GRANTS TO THE UNIVERSITIES. 

The only other matter of special interest to be referred to in con- 
nection with the universities is the necessity that has been pressed 
upon them of obtaining larger grants from imperial sources to meet 
their growing expenditure. The assistance which has been given to 
the universities by the Carnegie trust, which will be referred to 
later, has generally taken the form of capital endowment, and this, 
while improving their usefulness, has necessarily increased their 
maintenance expenditure, and the funds are not available at present 
for meeting this increased expenditure. This demand for additional 
funds from the imperial treasury has necessarily raised the delicate 
question of the extent to which the giving of such moneys is to result 
in governmental control. With our usual want of system in this 
country, the result of the appeal of the universities for more money 
from the national purse has been of two kinds. On the one hand, a 
special committee was appointed by the treasury to inquire into the 
needs of the universities, and this committee has reported in favor 
of giving additional grants, amounting to some £40,000 a year, on 
condition that the schemes for the expenditure of this money should 
be submitted to the treasury. But in addition to this a clause 
[Clause XVI, (h)] was introduced into the 1908 education (Scotland) 
59041°— ED 1910— VOL 1 35 



546 EDUCATION REPORT, 1910. 

act in that portion of the act deahng with the future expenditure of 
the consoKdated funds which have abeady been referred to, and by 
this clause the Scotch education department are enabled to rnake 
grants to the universities. The clause is as follows: 

To making payment to the universities of Scotland, in addition to any sums other- 
wise payable to them under any act, of such sums in respect of yearly maintenance 
expenditure as the secretary for Scotland, on application by the university courts, or 
any of them, may determine after consideration of the results of such inquiries as he 
may from time to time direct to be made by a special committee appointed by him: 
Provided, That each university court shall make an annual report to the secretary for 
Scotland as to the mode in which it has applied any sum so granted. 

If this clause is contrasted with that dealing with the central 
institutions [Clause XVI, (c)], it at once reveals a fear on the part of 
universities that they might come under the control of the Scotch 
education department, a fear which has resulted in a proposal that 
any money granted to the universities out of these funds should be 
paid through a special committee. This would not be the committee 
which has been dealing with the application for an increased treasury 
grant. The universities themselves are, on the one hand, going to 
draw £40,000 a year from the treasury, submitting their scheme to 
the treasury direct, a grant over which the Scotch education depart- 
ment will have no control and regarding which it will not be able to 
exercise any voice, and on the other hand they may be able to get 
additional grants through the Scotch education department under 
this other committee appointed by the secretary for Scotland. There 
is probably no other country in the world except our own where 
such a scheme could have been passed. 

THE UNIVERSITIES AND STATE CONTROL. 

It is evident that this matter of additional grants to the universities 
is of fundamental importance, because the whole question is raised 
as to what the relations of the State to the universities should be. It 
is obvious that, as the universities depend ultimately upon the State 
for part of their endowments, the State in the final resort must have 
the right to interfere, but it is of the utmost importance, if higher 
education is to develop and i3rogress, that the universities should be 
free from state interference. Nevertheless such interference will 
come, as it has come in the past, through royal commissions if the 
universities do not get into touch with all the modern movements 
around them. It is a remarkable fact, as has already been shown, 
that the universities have no voice in the leaving certificate exami- 
nations in connection with the secondary schools, but have allowed 
the control to get entirely into the hands of the Scotch education 
department. On the other hand, they are moving very slowly toward 
a hearty cooperation with the new and vigorous central institutions 
which are developing at their doors. Serious problems are also 



EDUCATIONALi DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 547 

arising in the technical schools, owing to the necessity for reorganizing 
the relationship of the university to the extramural schools. While 
they are thus delaying to put themselves into living touch with the 
educational movements of the time, they are jealously fearing inter- 
ference on the part of the State. It is hardly necessary to point out 
that this double policy must ultimately result in the State again 
intervening, probably in the form of another royal commission. 

THE CARNEGIE TRUST. 

It is impossible to leave the subject of the universities without 
saying a fev/ words about the Carnegie trust. This body continues 
to benefit higher education in Scotland through its three channels of 
beneficence, namely, the payment of students' fees, the giving of 
capital grants for founding new chairs and building laboratories, and 
the encouragement of scientific research by providing grants for the 
purchase of apparatus, the institution of research fellowships and 
research scholarships. When the scheme was originally drawn up, 
it must have been very difficult for the trustees to decide in what way 
they were going to administer the funds devoted to the payment of 
fees. Their final decision was to use this money in raising the stand- 
ard of education in the universities, both for those entering it and 
those continuing their studies, and it will be found that the regula- 
tions are drawn up to this effect and have undoubtedly improved the 
standard of work throughout. It is unnecessary to say anything of 
the benefits gained to learning and science by the administration of 
the other part of the funds in the hands of the trustees. At the same 
time there is one direction in which, if possible, they might still do a 
great deal to advance the pursuit of pure science, and that is by 
arranging to grant research assistants to professors whose staffs are 
entirely occupied with teaching. In certain cases the Carnegie trust 
has done this, and has, I believe, found difficulties in carrying out 
such a scheme in practice, but its value to science would be 
immense and is worthy of their further consideration. 

The Training of the Teacher. 

Up to the year 1901 the method of training teachers in Scotland 
for the elementary schools was by means of the pupil-teacher system, 
the young student carrying on his or her education and doing a cer- 
tain amount of teaching at the same time, and finally passing on to 
one of the training colleges which were in the hands of the various 
churches. In Edinburgh we had three training colleges for teachers, 
conducted by the Established Church of Scotland, the Free Church 
of Scotland, and the Scottish Episcopal Church. In 1901 the Scotch 
education department began to modify the whole of the scheme, and 



548 EDUCATION REPOET, 1910. 

the new scheme is now getting into thorough working order on quite 
a different basis. In the first place, the Scotch education department 
has, itself, taken over the training colleges from the Established and 
Free churches, and have created in the four university towns of 
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews, four bodies known 
as provincial committees which are responsible for the training of 
teachers. These committees were selected to represent varied educa- 
tional interests. At the same time, the old pupil- teacher system has 
been abolished and has been replaced by regulations governing the 
passage of students who wish to become teachers, from the elementary 
schools into the higher grade schools, and from the higher grade 
schools to the training colleges, while assistance is provided by a 
system of scholarships. The education of the primary teacher is 
given in two stages, the pupil teacher or junior student stage, and 
the senior student stage. Candidates for the junior studentship must 
hold the intermediate certificate of the Scotch education department. 
They must therefore be 15 years of age, and for a period extending 
normally over three years they undergo instruction in English and 
another language, history, geography, mathematics, elementary 
science, drawing, physical exercises, music, and also in some cases, 
in woodwork or needlework or school gardening. Junior students 
have also to undergo systematic training in the art of teaching each 
of the primary school subjects. Those who perform all their work 
satisfactorily and who pass an examination at the end of their course 
are awarded a junior student certificate, giving full details regarding 
their attainments. 

The candidate next passes to the senior stage, and there undergoes 
a further course of education and professional training, which extends 
generally over not less than two years. The senior student may get 
further instruction in the subjects of general education enumerated 
above for junior students, and the training authorities may allow 
students to attend a university, or a school of art, technical college, 
agricultural college, or college of domestic science for the further 
study of subjects for which they are qualified as shown by entries in 
their junior student certificates. At each training center, a particular 
study is made of such professional subjects as hygiene (including a 
course in physical exercises), psychology, logic, ethics, and the history 
and principles of education. The students in training must undergo 
a course of instruction in the methods of teaching all the subjects of 
the primary school curriculum, and must obtain adequate practice 
in the schools in the district in teaching these subjects under skilled 
supervision. If the student aims at being a teacher in a secondary 
or intermediate school, the standard of knowledge required is, 
speaking generally, that of a university degree with honors in the 
subject, or proof of attainments in it equivalent to this. The course 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SCOTLAND. 549 

of training for secondary school teachers is not definitely prescribed, 
but generally includes a number of the same subjects as are studied 
by those who are going to be primary teachers. The training of 
teachers of special subjects, such as cookery and laundry work, 
drawing, manual training, etc., is not quite so satisfactorily developed 
in Scotland yet, as in the case of primary and secondary teachers. 
This new system has now got thoroughly under way, and the pupils are 
beginning to enter the training colleges under the new system. The 
total number of students in the various stages of preparation for 
teaching in Scotland being for 1908-9, 3,208 junior students and 
2,953 senior students. Of the junior students 2,500 were females 
and 700 were males. Of the 824 students in training in Edinburgh 
last session 380 were attending university graduating courses, show- 
ing how largely university education is now being taken advantage of. 

Concluding Remarks. 

It will be found from the foregoing account that the whole field of 
Scotch education is at present alive with fresh movements and 
developments, and that consequently in the course of a short article, 
such as this, it is impossible to deal adequately with all these phe- 
nomena, while the final result on the reader's mind might be one of 
confusion. Behind the movements, however, that are taking place 
in connection with elementary and secondary education, continuation 
work, the central institutions, and the training of teachers, there can 
be seen certain guiding principles at work on the part of the Scotch 
education department. It may be difficult to state these completely, 
but at any rate, one or two of them are sufiiciently obvious. In the 
first place, it is evidently the desire of the Scotch education depart- 
ment to get rid as far as possible of all external examination tests. 
This country has suffered almost as much as China has from this 
system of detecting merit, and as the whole methods of the depart- 
ment are more and more evolved^ they show an evident desire to 
build up the various institutions, whether they be elementary schools, 
secondary schools, or technical colleges, on broad lines, and then to 
leave to those responsible for the educational work in these institu- 
tions the decision as to the capabilities of the scholars, and their fit- 
ness for other work. This may seem to be in the United States an 
obvious plan, but it has been a slow and difficult battle to persuade 
those in this country who have got wedded to the examination system 
that it is one which tends to kill all true education. In this respect, 
England is years behind Scotland, and its educational system is still 
bound in the trammels of the external examination idea. It is also 
quite evident by studying the various developments taking place 
that the Scotch education department is trying to make all education 



550 EDUCATION EiyOET, 1910. 

an organized whole, in which every part has its place, and in which, 
while plenty of roads are left open to children of different abilities, 
yet there is one organized scheme permeated by a central idea. 

As has already been pointed out, while the elementary schools, the 
secondary schools, and the central institutions are all working har- 
moniously toward these ideals, the difficulty which is looming in the 
future is the question of their relationship to the universities. This 
has already been raised in connection with the university preliminary 
examination. In the past the university has accepted in lieu of that 
examination the leaving certificate in definite individual subjects, 
but the leaving certificate of the future is to be a group certificate 
and a great variety of groups are to be instituted. Is the university, 
then, to accept these groups, as evidence of a sufficient secondary 
education for admission to its degrees, and nothing be done to bring 
the university itself into touch with these leaving certificate exam- 
inations, giving it some voice as to the lines on which secondary 
education is to move? This is one problem; the other is the rela- 
tionship of the universities to the new and vigorous central institu- 
tions growing up around them and the reorganization of the extra 
mural system. If universities can realize the importance of these 
central institutions and come forward with a broad and generous 
policy, Scotland should continue to hold its place as a center of higher 
education for students from all parts of the Empire. 



m 



